The Key
by xFauxdilocksx
Summary: AU. Multi-Chapter. With her parents unable to cope with her rebellious behaviour, California party-girl Brooke Davis is shipped off to Boarding School in Tree Hill, North Carolina. But Brooke soon learns that the illiberal, Catholic, establishment, isn't quite what it seems, and that appearances can be very much deceptive. Breyton. Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: You may have noticed that I deleted some unfinished multi-chapters, but not because I've forgotten about them. My plan is to finish Hold onto the Nights, and work on this story, my fluff piece, and my Strawyer, then as I finish a story, I'll bring back and finish a story that I deleted, as I do have them saved. You just got to go with what you're inspired by, you know? :)**

**It's not like me to write a high school era fic, but Peyton'sComet was telling me about a **_**super **__**awesome**_** high school era plot bunny that she has (hint hint, dude ;)) and inspiration just struck me.**

**Usual disclaimer; I don't own anything, but I wish that I did...**

**A.U multi-chapter. There will be some times in this story where you'll be thinking '**_**yeah, okay, how is that even possible**_**?', but it's all for fun (mostly), so please take this story at face value and try not to read too much into it :)**

**So, here you have it…**

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**The Key**

"Oh my God, I love it when my parents go out of town," Brooke Davis breathed, tilting her head back as the hot Latina from next door sucked at the pulse point behind her ear, a glass of cheap white wine in her hand, as she and her flavor of the month made out in the hot-tub in her back yard.

"Yeah, you like that baby?" Anna, Brooke's Latina lover, whispered against her neck, as Brooke took a sip of her wine and hummed in appreciation.

Brooke Davis was the quintessential California party girl, except her hair was straightened and brunette instead of the golden curls that Katy Perry described, and she most definitely loved Sex on the Beach, both the drink and the real thing; especially if the real thing was with a delicious female.

She loved three things in life; getting drunk, getting laid, and cheerleading.

And she hated three things in life; rules, girls who acted like a 'goody two-shoes'…and school.

Yes, school; because party girl Brooke Davis was still only 16 years old.

"Maybe you should take that bikini top off…" Anna whispered, moving her lips to Brooke's throat, and Brooke giggled.

"It's self-service in this hot tub, baby." Brooke commented, spreading her arms out to lean against the wall of the tub. "Do it yourself."

Anna proceeded to remove Brooke's bikini top as she sucked on her neck again, whispering "I love summer vacation, we can stay up and do this all night if we want to…"

"Oh I do this all night anyway; but please just shut-up and concentrate on getting me off, I do want to finish before we go back to school next week." Brooke laughed, pushing Anna's head downwards, but as she did, a loud yell pierced the warm, night, air.

"Brooke Penelope Davis, what the _hell_ is going on?!"

"Mom! Dad!" Brooke gasped, grabbing her bikini top from Anna's hands to cover herself up, as she scrambled out of the hot-tub, Anna climbing out behind her.

"Sex? Alcohol? Why can't we leave you alone for a few days without you getting up to something that you're not supposed to…?!" Victoria Davis yelled, walking towards Brooke with an angry scowl on her face.

"You weren't supposed to be home until Monday!" Brooke protested as Victoria grabbed her by the wrist and began to lead her into their house.

"Miss Taggaro, don't you have somewhere else to be?" Brooke's father, Ted Davis, commented, following Brooke and Victoria into the house.

"I cannot cope with this behaviour any longer, Brooke, we leave you alone for_ three days_, and this is how you behave!" Victoria ranted, pacing around the kitchen.

"What…" Brooke gasped from her seat at the kitchen table. "You told me no parties, and look around, no party!"

"For the past year, all you have done is party, and get drunk…and don't even get me started on your grades, or the endless string of girls that you have paraded through this house. I will not tolerate it any more, Brooke." Victoria continued.

"Oh, so this is about me being gay?" Brooke accused, crossing her arms across her chest in what looked like defiance; only Brooke knew that the action was more of a defense mechanism to mask the insecurity that she felt over her Mother's feelings about her sexuality.

"Come on Brooke, you know it's not about that; we'd feel the same if it was boy's that you were constantly bringing home…" Ted said, standing off in the background.

"No, you wouldn't. She has a problem with it and I know it. God forbid she let any of her 'social group' know that she has a _lesbian_ daughter!" Brooke spat, aiming the comment at Victoria.

"Brooke, do not speak to your mother like that!" Ted warned, and Brooke shook her head.

"Oh, he speaks up now. Stay out of this Dad, you stay out of everything else anyway." She said sarcastically.

Ted sighed, but stayed silent.

"Brooke, you are so naive. I don't care that you're going through this little 'phase'…" Victoria started.

"It's not a phase!"

"What I do care about is how you present yourself. You are going to be head cheerleader, and hopefully student body president; those are the things that will look good on your U.C Berkeley application. I will not have you squandering your chances of Berkeley away on alcohol, parties, and _girls_!" Victoria finished.

"Oh this isn't about Berkeley, this about you having the _perfect little daughter_." Brooke commented sarcastically again.

"Oh you are such a child, and a fairly stupid one at that; this isn't about me, this is about the fact that you have to _grow up_."

"Of course I'm acting like a child; I am a child! I'm only 16!" Brooke yelled, almost at the end of her tether.

Victoria sighed and shook her head. "Go to bed, Brooke, we'll continue this in the morning."

"No…" Brooke whispered defiantly.

"I mean it, Brooke. Go, to, _bed_!"

And with that, Brooke stood up, throwing her chair under the table, then she trudged upstairs to her bedroom.

"I will not tolerate this any longer, Ted. I know that teenagers act up, but this is a step too far."

"I know, I guess we have to go to our last resort." Ted answered, closing his eyes as he leaned against the kitchen counter. "I'll make the call in the morning."

. . .

"Why the hell are you waking me up at 8am during summer vacation? If that's my punishment for last night, then I really am truly sorry…" Brooke said sleepily, yawning, as she sunk down on a chair at the kitchen table.

"As we discussed last night, your Mother and I can no longer cope with your rebellious behaviour, and we've decided that we have to do something about it." Ted said, handing Brooke a cup of mild strength coffee to wake her up a little.

"Oh, what are you going to do, ground me? 'Cause that totally worked the last 6,000 times that you tried it." Brooke laughed sarcastically, as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Not this time…" Victoria answered, sliding a brochure across the table, and Brooke furrowed her brows as she picked it up.

"Tree Hill St. Stanislaus, School of Catholic Education…" Brooke mumbled, then she dropped the brochure as realization hit her.

"What the hell is this?!"

"Clearly we cannot control your behaviour here, so we have decided to send you somewhere where there will be no temptation, until you learn how to behave like a proper young lady." Ted answered.

"You're sending me to boarding school?!" Brooke exclaimed, picking the brochure up again and scanning the first few pages. "In North Carolina?!"

"You have left us with no other choice." Victoria said quietly.

"No, you can't do this. I'm going to be head cheerleader, I have friends at my school, and I like it there!" Brooke protested.

"Oh you like it now, do you? I'm sure that you're attendance records would _completely_ back that up." Victoria fired back sarcastically.

"You can't do this to me!" Brooke protested further, tears gathering in her hazel eyes.

"I'm sorry Brooke, this is how it has to be…" Ted told her, his voice somewhat apologetic.

"Please, Daddy." Brooke pleaded, the tears starting to roll down her cheeks now.

"I'm sorry, Brooke."

"I can't believe this…" was all Brooke could say, as the situation sunk in.

"We inquired about this school a few months ago. I called them this morning and they still have a place available for you. The new school term starts next Monday, so you leave next Sunday." Ted explained, and Brooke simply stayed silent from the shock.

"We won't ground you, simply so you can spend this week saying goodbye to your friends. Hopefully this experience will teach you the value of proper behaviour." Victoria said, and Brooke shook her head.

"Proper behaviour as in how _not_ to be gay." Brooke muttered.

"Oh not this again?!" Victoria exclaimed. "I told you last night Brooke, your sexuality has nothing to do with this!"

"Oh yeah?!" Brooke said, standing up from her seat, annoyance evident in her movements. "You think I didn't notice that it's a catholic school? Convenient much?!"

"Oh stop being so immature." Victoria retorted calmly. "Please go to your room until you calm down."

Brooke began to head for the kitchen door, but before she left the room, she turned to Victoria with anger evident in her eyes. "Fine! But in the words of Callie Torres, _you can't pray away the gay!"_

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**So… thoughts?**


	2. Chapter 2

**I got such a positive response for this story, which I'm very grateful for. Thank-you for that :)**

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It was 10pm at night as Brooke stared out of the window of a rental car, observing the quiet, suburban, town, of Tree Hill, North Carolina.

It was so small, and so _clean_, and so unlike anything that she'd ever been used to.

In all honesty, she would have said that it was pretty if she'd only been passing through, but unfortunately, the sleepy town was about to become her home for a year, at the very least, and she was far too tired to try to see the best in the place, after her long journey to get there.

She and her parents had been unable to get a flight to an airport closer to Tree Hill at such short notice during peak holiday season, and the only flight available to them was a late afternoon flight to Raleigh-Durham on the day that they had to leave.

So after making arrangements with the school principle, Ted hired a car in Raleigh to make the rest of the journey to Tree Hill, and they were now in the town, on their way to the school to meet Brooke's new principle, who'd agreed that it was okay for Brooke to move in so late in the evening.

Brooke continued to stare out of the window, watching as the small town disappeared from her view, instead being replaced by large trees and scattered street lights, as they drove onto a quiet country road.

"You're very quiet, sweetheart…" Victoria commented, turning to look at Brooke from her spot in the passenger's seat of the car.

Brooke scoffed, refusing to look in Victoria's direction. "As would you be in you were about to go to educational prison…"

"Come on, Brooke, we looked at the brochure together, and it looked very nice; surrounded by trees, and wildlife, you'll have fun there…" Ted answered.

"As if. What am I going to do, play with bunny rabbits and skip around with deer? This isn't a freaking Disney movie." Brooke pouted, turning to give her parents her attention now.

"Of course not. I think what your father meant by that is that your surroundings will be relaxing, and peaceful. That's why I told you to pack your digital camera, so you can get some nice photographs." Victoria smiled.

"What am I, a nature photographer?"

Brooke's attitude was characteristically bitchy, but deep down she was scared.

Scared, and nervous, and completely out of her depth.

She was going to be the new girl, and she was thousands of miles from home.

She may have wanted to act like an adult, which got her landed in Tree Hill in the first place, but suddenly she was feeling very much like a child.

"You can take some photos with your new friends, too…" Ted pointed out.

"Friends. Right. 'Cause _everyone_ love's the new kid." Brooke muttered, then she turned back to the window, ignoring whatever reply her parents gave her.

After another few minutes to driving, they made a sharp turn to the left, and as they approached the large, elaborate, wrought iron, entrance, to a driveway, Brooke's heart sunk to her chest; there, on her right hand side, was the sign that she'd been dreading to see;

'_Tree Hill St. Stanislaus,  
School of Catholic Education.  
__**Dei gratia discimus'**_

She'd learned from the brochure that the school motto 'Dei gratia discimus', was the Latin for 'By the grace of God, we learn'.

That, in itself, made her scoff in displeasure; this was _so _not her kind of place.

The car passed the sign, and continued up the long drive-way, surrounded by trees, and she rested her forehead against the window, as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

In the time since her parents had told her that she was going to the catholic boarding school, she hadn't really believed it. Rather, she'd hoped that they would back out at the last minute.

But now that she was there, on campus, it was all suddenly very real.

She watched as the tree's cleared, and an old, but small, nineteenth century, building, appeared in front of her, illuminated by the car's headlights. At the entrance stood two figures; one of which she figured was her new principle.

Then the car stopped, and that was it.

She was here.

Ted exited the car first to greet the two figures, one male, one female, and Brooke had to clamp her eyes closed for a moment in an effort to keep it together.

She wouldn't break down now. Maybe it was just a stubbornness thing, but she wouldn't allow herself to appear weak.

She could do this.

She was strong!

Victoria exited the car next, as Ted retrieved Brooke's luggage from the trunk of the car, then before she knew it, the door on her side of the car was opening, and Victoria was escorting her out.

"Hello Brooke, I'm your principle Mr Turner, it's nice to finally meet you." The man she'd seen by the entrance, said, extending his hand to her, and she shook it hesitantly, smiling up at him weakly.

She could feel herself welling up again, and she had to mentally tell herself to keep it together.

"And this is your floor supervisor, Flo." Principle Turner continued, gesturing to the woman who accompanied him.

Brooke looked at the woman with a blank stare. Floor supervisor?

"Hi Brooke, Jane Florence, but the girls call me Flo."

Brooke smiled, Flo was maybe in her mid to late thirties, and she looked friendly; she had a warm smile that seemed to relax her slightly.

"Um, I'm sorry if this is a silly question." Brooke said quietly. "But what's a floor supervisor?"

Flo smiled in understanding. "I'm a student supervisor in your residence halls. I'm the supervisor for the floor that your room is on. I make sure that you do your homework, get up in time for class in the mornings, are in your room by curfew, things like that...and oh yeah, I'm also your laundry maid" She finished, laughing.

"Oh. Right."

"Come on, why don't we head in and get you registered?" Principle Turner suggested, and they headed towards the building, Ted carrying Brooke's luggage for her.

"Not to be funny, but I expected it to be bigger." Brooke commented, scrunching her nose up as she looked at the building, and Principle Turner laughed.

"It is. This is just the administration building."

In the administration building, Ted and Victoria signed some papers, and Brooke signed a learning agreement.

Next she was given a large bag which contained her school uniform.

"I've never had to wear a uniform before…" Brooke said, scrunching her nose up again as she peered into the bag.

"Here at Tree Hill, we are very strict about uniform, you must, and I mean _must, _wear full school uniform at all times during teaching hours." Principle Turner explained.

"Wow, yeah, okay Hitler…" Brooke muttered sarcastically, and Victoria glared at her as she cringed slightly.

"Sorry about that…" She smiled apologetically.

"Now we'll head up to residence so you can get settled in, Brooke."

They followed Principle Turner through the double doors at the back of the administration building, and they opened out onto a beautiful court-yard, full of grass areas, picnic benches, trees, flowers, and even a water feature.

"The students here call this area the quad." Principle Turner explained. "They like to hang out here on nice days."

It was a pretty nice space, but Brooke wouldn't admit that out loud.

There were a few out-buildings scattered around, but right at the end on the quad was another nineteenth century building; only this time it was big, and it was extravagant.

"This, Brooke, is the school."

"Wow…" She said quietly to herself. It was different compared to her school in California. Her school back home was modern, and bright. This, this was staunch, and intimidating, and it looked more like a University than a school.

"Due to the time, I can't give you a tour of the school building because we need to get you settled into your room. But, don't be worried by its appearance, it's actually very easy to navigate." Principle Turner smiled, and Brooke simply nodded.

This was a lot to take in.

"Well, this is where I leave you for now, Flo will show you to your room. Mr and Mrs Davis, feel free to accompany Brooke to her room, I'm sure you'd like to see where she'll be staying." Principle Turner said. "Brooke, school starts tomorrow at 8am, but I'd like to see you at 7:30 to discuss your class schedule and such. When you go into the school, turn left and walk straight down the hall, my office is at the very end of the corridor."

And with that, Principle Turner turned and walked away, leaving Flo to take the family up to Brooke's room.

"To your far left are the boy's residence halls, Hargrove Hall, and Fields Hall…" Flo started, and Brooke nodded, looking down to the buildings on her left. She'd been thankful when she discovered that the school was co-ed; she'd heard that all girls' schools were extra bitchy, so if the girls were bitches to her here, at least she still had the opportunity to befriend some boy's, like what guy wouldn't want a California, lesbian, ex-cheerleader, as a friend? "Boys are allowed in communal areas of the girls halls, and vice versa, until 6pm on school nights and 8pm on weekends, but if any member of the opposite sex is found in your bedroom at any time, you will both be dealt with harshly, that's just the rules." Flo finished, and Brooke laughed.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that with me, sweetheart."

"Brooke!" Victoria exclaimed, and Brooke simply smirked.

Ignoring Brooke's comment, Flo continued, leading them off to the right in the direction of the girl's residence halls. "Down here are the girl's halls, Evans Hall, and Durham Hall. Brooke you'll be staying in Durham. Each residence hall has four floors with 25 en-suite, single occupancy, bedrooms…"

"They better be en-suite and single occupancy, considering the amount of money I'm paying for this place!" Ted commented, and Victoria scalded him and cringed; she certainly knew where Brooke got her big mouth from.

"Wait, single occupancy, as in I get my own room?" Brooke asked, smiling slightly for the first time since she'd set foot on campus.

"You get your own room, Brooke, yes." Flo smiled back. "As I was saying, each floor houses a different year group, freshman on the first floor, sophomore on the second floor, and so on. You're on the third floor, Brooke, or junior floor if you like."

Flo finished talking just as they arrived at Durham Hall.

"Well, here we are."

Brooke looked around, it was similar in design to the rest of the buildings that she'd seen, only it was newer, it'd simply been designed to look the same.

Flo swiped a card and they entered the building into a hallway, and they headed upstairs to the third floor, where Flo showed them the large common area with a TV, video games, big comfortable couches, and some other various recreational items.

It was decorated modern and comfortably, and as much as she wanted to, Brooke couldn't really complain.

Flo then pointed out her own bedroom, which was at the end of the long hallway, and was simply numbered 3.0.

They then went to Brooke's bedroom, and Flo handed her a key card.

"Here we are, room 3.17. There is a hand-book in your room detailing house rules, laundry days, etc, so I strongly recommend that you read it. But the main rules are: No boys in your bedroom, lights out at 10:00pm sharp, in the hallways anyway, if you want to leave a lamp on in your bedroom I'll be okay with that. Wake-up call is 5:30am on school days, so tonight you should just try to get some sleep and worry about unpacking tomorrow evening, and lastly, breakfast is served in the cafeteria on the ground floor of the main school building, between 7am and 7:45am. Lunch and Dinner are in there too, but all of this is in your handbook. This is where I'll leave you for the night, but I'm so happy to meet you Brooke, and I'm sure we'll have a great year together."

Flo said her goodbyes, and walked off down the hall, leaving Brooke and her parents alone to head into the room.

But as Brooke entered her room, she didn't notice that the door of the room across the hall from her was cracked open slightly, or that a red-headed girl was peering out from behind it…

. . .

"We really have to go, Brooke, we have to drive back to Raleigh to catch an early flight…" Ted said, hugging his daughter, who wouldn't let go of him.

They'd said their goodbyes, but when they did, Brooke couldn't hold it in any longer, and she became emotional.

"Please Daddy, you can't leave me here. Daddy please!"

"Brooke, please, this is for the best, come on…" Victoria said, her voice softer than usual, as she prised Brooke from Ted's arm.

"Daddy…"

"One year Brooke, okay. If you behave yourself this year, and your grades improve, I promise that you can come home and re-join your old school for senior year."

"I'll be good in California, I promise. Please."

"Brooke, I'm sorry, sweetheart." Ted said, opening the door, preparing to leave.

Brooke simply cried in response.

Victoria kissed her head, and they said their 'I love you's', then suddenly they were gone, leaving Brooke all alone in the middle of small town North Carolina.

"This is real…" She said to herself as she sat down on her bed, looking around at the bare walls, and the desk against the wall.

But instead of dwelling on it, she decided to distract herself.

First of all by unpacking; she wouldn't be sleeping tonight anyway.

She made up her bed with pretty pink bed sheets, then she put pictures of her friends from California onto the wall.

She then unpacked her clothes into the small closet and dresser.

Lastly she picked up the bag containing her school uniform, and she began to unpack it with trepidation, but she was surprised to find that it wasn't too bad;

She had a dark-blue and light-blue, checked, plaid skirt, which she was surprised to find wasn't as long as she'd expected; it was about mid-thigh length. She had a white polo-shirt with the letters T.H.S.S.H.S embroidered onto the breast pocket, and a grey, V-neck, sweater, adorning the same logo. What she liked most though, were the white socks, with the two light-blue bands around the top, which came up to just below the knee; those, she was totally okay with wearing!

She was also given gym clothes which consisted of a white t-shirt with the T.H.S.S.H.S logo on it, dark blue running shorts, and similar socks to the ones that she got with her uniform, only the gym socks had dark-blue bands around the top of them, rather than light-blue.

Okay, so the uniform wasn't bad; everything else, however, she imagined was going to be awful.

But rather than brooding over it, she instead decided to cut her losses, and accepted the new reality of her life.

She was at boarding school.

She was in hell.

And this was now her life.

* * *

**This chapter was mostly a plot builder, next chapter the story really begins, and, you guessed it, Peyton will be introduced :D**

**Reviews are awesome!**


	3. Chapter 3

Brooke walked through the ground floor corridor of her new school, in search of Principle Turner's office, after leaving the cafeteria where she hadn't even attempted to eat anything; her bagel had gone straight into the trash, much like her attempt at a good night's sleep the night before.

As expected, she hadn't slept a wink. The place was so quiet, she didn't even hear one footstep from the floor above, and the only sound that she did hear, an owl hooting outside, had kind of creeped her out; she wasn't used to that.

So after wake up call, she'd wearily jumped into the shower, turning the water to cold to shock her awake, then she'd pulled on her new uniform, which she had to admit looked totally cute on her, then lastly she pulled her long, brunette, hair into a tidy pony-tail.

There were some people in the halls, some at their lockers, some just hanging out, and all she could feel were prying eyes on her; people wondering who the hell she was, some mentally judging her, and other's looking at her with a look of slight distain; oh, the joys of being the new girl…

She walked down the hall feeling very aware of herself, everything around her kind of a blur, then finally she arrived at Principle Turner's office, finding the man, and a female member of staff, waiting for her.

"Brooke, come on in and have a seat." Principle turner smiled, and she hastily walked into the office, where she took a seat in front of the desk.

"First of all, let me introduce Miss Fletcher, she'll be your Guidance Councillor during your time at Tree Hill. Any worries you may have, anything you want to know about your class schedule, and when the time comes for you to apply to college, Miss Fletcher is the one to go to." Principle Turner continued.

Brooke nodded, then shook Miss Fletcher's hand as the woman introduced herself.

"Hi, Brooke, I teach Modern Languages, mostly French and Spanish, you're on my class schedule and I look forward to working with you, both in class, and during guidance."

"Yeah, for the little amount of time that I'm actually going to be here…" Brooke muttered sarcastically, but the teachers chose to ignore it.

"So, first off, I want to go over some school rules and such." Principle Turner said, and Brooke nodded once again. "School starts at 8am, and finishes 3:15pm. You have homeroom at 8am, which lasts for fifteen minutes, 2 classes, then a short 15 minute break until 10:30am. Afterwards you have another 2 classes, then a 45 minute lunch break until 1:15pm. You have a further 2 classes in the afternoon, then school finishes at 3:15pm…"

"Wow, long day much? At my old school we finished at like 2!" Brooke gasped.

"We do things differently here, Brooke. Time keeping is imperative, and any late-coming or absences that haven't been authorized by your Floor Supervisor, will be punishable by time in the Rehabilitation Center…" Principle Turner continued.

"Rehab." Brooke laughed, "What the hell are we? Cocaine addicted rock stars?!"

"The Rehabilitation Center is like detention. You go to the Rehabilitation room at the back of the library, where you stay until 5pm copying out passages from the bible. If you are sent to the Rehabilitation Center, you will lose out on any extra-curricular activities that you may have, which also run until around 5pm…"

"Oh my God, that is so lame." Brooke continued to laugh.

"I really don't think that your attitude is very appropriate, Miss Davis." Principle Turner scalded, and Brooke continued to laugh as he continued what he was saying. "You will have the opportunity to sign up for extra-curricular activities starting from tomorrow; sign-up sheets will be posted on the notice board outside of the cafeteria. Now rules; full uniform is compulsory, as is time-keeping and attendance. If you are ill, talk to your Floor Supervisor who will assess you, and if you are unfit for classes, she will send Miss Fletcher a note of authorization. No foul language will be tolerated in any area of the campus, and smoking and alcohol consumption are strictly prohibited… but that one is kind of a given." Principle Turner continued, and Brooke rolled her eyes.

No swearing; how fucking juvenile.

"We do permit student relationships; that is something that we cannot stop. But as you probably already know, no boys are permitted in your bedroom at any time."

"What about girls?" Brooke asked, giggling slightly.

"Of course girls are allowed in your bedroom…" Principle Turner said, not realizing the meaning behind Brooke's question.

"Perfect…" Brooke replied, raising her eyebrow slightly.

"All homework must be completed and handed in on time, but your Floor Supervisor will have designated study hours. And lastly, you must participate in all morning prayers in your homeroom class, and attend a weekly mass service every Sunday at 10am in the auditorium."

"What if I'm not catholic?"

"You're at a catholic establishment, and you're parents have not specified that you cannot take part in prayer, therefore you must comply with the rules."

"Whatever…" Brooke shrugged.

"So, moving on, here is your class schedule…" Principle Turner smiled, handing Brooke a piece of paper, and she looked it over, only half listening to what Principle Turner was saying. "We got your transcript from your school in California, and we hope that we have your classes mostly the same."

"Hold on, why the hell am I in Advance Placement classes? This isn't right!" Brooke exclaimed, her jaw almost hitting the floor.

"Here at Tree Hill, we like to give you the opportunity to get the best grades that you can. We like to challenge you and give you the opportunity to prove yourself, rather than let you sit in classes that are below your ability…"

"But AP is above my ability!"

"No no, your old school told us that you were excelling in Art and English, so we have placed you in AP and you can take the classes over two years. As you can see, the rest of your classes are at your required level of ability. The class numbers here are small, with a maximum of fifteen students per class, this allows for more one to one teaching."

Brooke simple shook her head and huffed, not paying attention as three figures walked into the office.

"Principle Turner, you wanted to see us…"

Brooke turned around then, and suddenly her hands became sweaty and she was sure that a blush crept over her face, as she eyed a female student from bottom to top.

She noticed the socks that she, herself, was also wearing, and how they highlighted toned, tanned, _long_ legs, and the checked, plaid, skirt, that seemed to look even shorter on the girl than it should have… that was probably due to those long legs, Brooke mused.

She then noticed the white, T.H.S.S.H.S, polo-shirt that clung to the girls toned, flat, abdomen, accentuating small, but perky, breasts.

The girl had her sweater draped across her arm.

Then she saw her beautiful face; small but kissable lips, perfect make-up, and striking green eyes. And gorgeous curly hair that was pulled into a pony tail, with a blue ribbon tied around the hair-tie.

The girl was fucking hot!

No, hot didn't even cover it, she was a teenaged _goddess._

"Yes, come in, you're right on time. It's great to see you, I hope that all of you had a great summer." Principle Turner smiled, and all of them replied, all the while Brooke remained completely transfixed on the curly-headed newcomer.

"Brooke, let me introduce you to three very important people…" Principle Turner said, and Brooke jumped, being interrupted from her trance…

"First off, I'd like to introduce you to Haley James…" Haley James was wearing her uniform, and her hair was long, wavy, and dark blonde, almost mousy brown, in color. "Haley is a senior, and our Tutor Center coordinator. If you're having trouble in any of your classes, find Haley in the Tutor Center which is located in the library, and she will arrange tutoring sessions for you. Haley, this is new student, Brooke Davis, she's in junior year."

"Hi Brooke," Haley smiled, shaking Brooke's hand.

Next, Principle Turner addressed the male student. "Brooke, this the schools Head Boy, Lucas Scott."

"Hey Brooke, it's great to have you here." Lucas smiled.

"Um, head boy?" Brooke furrowed her brows.

"It's like student body president, but here we have a Head Boy and a Head Girl, we feel like this is a better way to have both genders represented. I'm a senior too, like Haley." Lucas explained.

"Well congratulations…" Brooke replied sarcastically, and the blonde headed boy, who wore the male version of the uniform, which consisted of a sweater, polo shirt, and black slacks, simply squinted.

"And lastly, let me introduce you to our head girl." Principle Turner said, motioning to the hottest girl that Brooke was sure she'd ever seen. "This, is Peyton Sawyer."

The girl stepped forward, and Brooke's hands became even sweatier as her heart began to beat in her ears.

But then she noticed something around the girl's neck, and her hotness factor slightly dropped.

What the hell was that ugly fucking key pendant around her neck?

Her taste in jewelry was clearly fucking awful!

And the second that the girl opened her mouth, her hotness factor dropped even further.

"Hi Brooke, it's _so great_ to meet you!" The girl beamed, her pearly white teeth on full show, preppiness laced in every single word that she said. "I know that you're going to have such a _fantastic_ time here at Tree Hill, and I hope that you won't hesitate to come talk to me if you have _any_ trouble settling in. I'm in senior year, and you can usually find me in the senior common room in Durham Hall."

Brooke rolled her eyes, her sweaty palms suddenly becoming dry as a bone.

"I know that Tree Hill is probably different from what you're used to, but I know that you'll quickly settle in and make some great, life-long, friends." Peyton continued, and all that Brooke could think of was that the girl's perky attitude made her want to shoot herself in the head.

That was disappointing; yes, the girl was hot, but Brooke could already tell from her preppy attitude that the girl was pretty much the embodiment of everything that she hated; goodness. And that pretty much obliterated her hotness; not completely though, Brooke wasn't blind, she couldn't deny that the girl was attractive...

Luckily, the bell rang, stopping Peyton from talking any more.

"Lucas, Peyton, you two should head to homeroom, but thank-you for coming down to introduce yourself." Principle Turner excused them.

"No problem, Mr Turner." Peyton beamed again. "And remember Brooke; _go Ravens_!

Then Peyton and Lucas left the office hand in hand, as Brooke made a sarcastic, nauseous, face.

Obviously they were together. If Peyton hadn't been so preppy, Brooke would have been disappointed…

"Those two…" Miss Fletcher beamed, watching the two blondes retreat from the room. "I'm telling you, we're going to be teaching their children someday… and yours and Nathan's too, Miss James."

"Barf!" Brooke commented, and Principle Turner stared at her condescendingly.

"Your locker is number 430, here is your padlock combination" Principle Turner said, handing Brooke another piece of paper. "Haley is now going to show you to your homeroom class. Oh, and there is a welcome assembly in the auditorium straight after classes today." Then they wrapped up their meeting, and Brooke followed Haley out of the office.

"So, did Principle Turner go over the layout of the school with you?" Haley smiled politely.

"Nope."

"Okay, let me see your schedule." Haley said, then she began to point some things out on the sheet of paper after Brooke handed it to her. "The building that we're in right now is laid out in a color system. There are four blocks; red, green, yellow, and blue. So, for example, your English classroom is R203, that means that it's in the red block, second floor, classroom three, does that make sense?"

Brooke nodded.

"Okay, the ground floor is where the Religious Education classes are held. The library and the cafeteria are also there." Haley continued, as they went through green double doors, entering the green block, and began to climb the stairs. "Classes on the ground floor simply have a G in front of them, for example your Religious Education classroom is G05."

"Ground floor, classroom five, right." Brooke smiled. "What about the outbuildings?"

"Well, there are three of those…" Haley started. "The outbuildings start with E, for extension. Gym classes are held in E1, Music classes are held in E2, which is also where the auditorium is, and Shop classes are held in E3; you'll know which is which as they have Extension 1, 2, or 3, written above the entrance."

"Okay, cool, thanks." Brooke smiled warmly; Haley didn't need to explain all of that to her, so it was kind of nice that she did.

"So, where are you from?" Haley asked.

"Cali." Brooke simply answered, not really in the mood to divulge any personal information to the girl that she'd just met.

"Cool, I'm from South Carolina originally, my Mom and Dad travel around the country now, they're only at home during school holidays." Haley smiled, and Brooke nodded, just as Haley pushed open another set of double doors and stopped in front of a classroom.

"This is your homeroom class. This is where I leave you, but I'm sure that you'll be okay." Haley smiled, then she started to walk out of the double doors again. "Hey Brooke, good luck."

Brooke then pushed the classroom door opened, and was met with a room full of blank stares.

"Hi, um… my name is Brooke Davis, I'm new…" Brooke addressed the teacher, nervousness evident in her voice.

"Brooke yes, come on in, I've already marked you as present. Why don't you go take the empty seat next to Rachel." The teacher smiled, and Brooke hesitantly walked to the only vacant seat in the classroom, next the red-headed girl that she didn't as yet know lived across the hall from her.

She smiled weakly to the girl, who sent her a small smile back before turning her back to her to talk to the girl at the table next to them.

Clearly making friends here wasn't going to be as easy as sending out polite smiles…

. . .

During her morning classes, Brooke found herself void of conversation, everyone turning their back to her to catch up with the friends that they already had, and she was almost certain that she'd never felt more alone in her life.

The only good part about her day was that she'd found it easy to navigate the school.

She was putting books into her locker after lunch, which she'd spent in her bedroom eating alone, when she felt someone push past her, and she fell forward, hitting her head against the door of her locker.

"Fucking tourist!" The girl who'd pushed into her said bitchily, looking her up and down as she walked away. Brooke assumed that 'tourist' was a term used to describe a new kid...

She stood up and composed herself, only to notice Peyton Sawyer looking at her from her locker further up the hall.

She turned away, embarrassment filling her face, as she continued to put things into her locker.

Fucking perfect, she looked like a bully victim in front of Peyton Preppy Pants! Hopefully the girl wouldn't try to talk to her again, that was the only thing worse than being the new girl!

But as she busied herself at her locker, she suddenly heard an ear piercing cry.

Looking up, she saw the girl who'd pushed her sitting on the ground, holding onto her ankle, and Peyton trying to help her up.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Peyton asked, concern radiating from her voice, as she helped the girl up and proceeded to help her down the hall, the girl limping from the pain.

"It hurts so badly!" The girl cried, and Brooke watched as a teacher took the girl from Peyton and led her to the first aid room.

"I'll take it from here Peyton, thank-you. Come on Miss Marsh, let's get that ankle checked out."

The bell rang, and Brooke closed her locker, and as she headed to class, she heard Peyton address the red-headed girl whom she'd sat next to in homeroom.

"Rachel, do you have a quick minute, I have to talk to you."

Brooke paid no more attention to Peyton as she walked to class, the blonde's goody-two shoes nature making her just _this_ side of nauseous. But as she walked to class, she noticed water all over the floor at Peyton's locker; the same spot where the girl whom she now knew as Miss Marsh had just slipped.

. . .

Brooke was sitting in the auditorium when someone sat down in the seat next to hers.

She wasn't expecting it, but for the first time that day, another student talked to her without being told to do so by a teacher.

"You're Brooke, right?"

She turned around to see the red-headed girl from homeroom sitting beside her.

"Um, yeah. Rachel isn't it?"

"Yeah, Rachel Gatina. Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all." Brooke smiled, then she turned around to face the stage again, expecting that to be the end of her and Rachel's conversation.

"I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you in homeroom this morning; that was kind of crappy of me." Rachel said, and Brooke turned around again, taken aback slightly. "I know what it's like to be the new kid, I got bounced around a lot of different middle schools before I came here…"

"Oh? Brooke said, suddenly interested in what Rachel had to say.

"Army brat." Rachel elaborated, and Brooke nodded. "I didn't see you at lunch today…"

"I…I went back to my room, I didn't want to be that weirdo eating alone." Brooke explained, and Rachel smiled in sympathy.

"You don't have to do that, you can eat with me if you want. We can go to dinner together too if you want to, I think you're in the bedroom across from me in Durham anyway." Rachel smiled. "I'm in 3.18, I saw you moving in last night."

Brooke nodded then smiled slightly. It would be nice to have a friend to eat with, even if the people here weren't usually the sort of people that she'd associate with.

"That'd be cool, yeah." Brooke smiled, then she turned back to the stage when Principle Turner began to speak.

She zoned in and out, listening and then not listening, as Principle Turner talked about how they would have a great year.

"Uh, this school is so boring; Kill. Me. Now." Brooke whispered to Rachel, and the red-headed girl laughed.

"It's not really, we have basketball games and stuff which are pretty fun…"

"Oh wow, what is it; Tree Hill Catholic School, home of the Fighting Christ's?" Brooke whispered sarcastically, and Rachel laughed again.

"No, we're the Tree Hill Raven's. But trust me, this school isn't quite what it seems, you just have to know how to make your own fun." Rachel explained, her voice carrying an air of mischief, and Brooke raised an eyebrow, Rachel's statement peaking her interest.

What did she mean by that? Because she could tell that there was a deeper meaning behind it.

But she shrugged it off as she zoned back into Principle Turner's speech just as he introduced Peyton and Lucas onto the stage.

And then she saw Peyton wearing the sexiest cheerleading outfit that she'd ever seen!

She loved how the short, navy-blue, skirt, showed off those amazing legs, and she loved how the Ravens sign was splayed out over her boobs…damn, the girl was hot!

Pity that she was the text-book definition of a royal pain in the ass.

It was one of those situations where Brooke didn't know how she was supposed to feel. She couldn't deny that the girl was a stunner, but oh my God she was _nightmare_!

And there was that _fugly _key pendant again!

Why would anyone ever wear that thing!

"You're friends with Peyton, right?" Brooke whispered to Rachel, and Rachel nodded.

"Yeah."

"Good, you can tell her from me that that necklace is fucking disgusting."

Rachel turned to Brooke, then she looked back to the stage. "That's _The Key_…"

"The Key?"

"It's symbolic. There's a Head Boy and a Head Girl, but everyone knows that the Head Girl is the one that really matters. The Key is symbolic; it represents that the Head Girl has a figurative 'key to the school'. A Head Girl from many years ago carved it simply as something to wear, and then she passed it to the next Head Girl, and so on, and eventually it caught on."

"Cool." Brooke commented, not really interested, but she listened as Rachel continued.

"To wear that key would be an honor, and a privilege. The Head Girl is always a senior, and next year, when Peyton graduates, the privilege of wearing The Key will be all mine..."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, because Peyton will be passing it onto me."

* * *

**Reviews rock the most!**


	4. Chapter 4

"So remember, cheerleading try-outs are tomorrow, so we should hang out in my room tonight and go over the routine that I taught you…." Rachel smiled, taking a bite out of her sandwich as she and Brooke had lunch in the school cafeteria on the Thursday afternoon of Brooke's first week at the school.

After she'd begun hanging out with Rachel, Brooke noticed that the stares weren't so bad. They were still there, but they weren't in distain or judgement, they were simply just…stares.

She'd mused to Rachel that the red-head had become somewhat of her safety net, and she'd been pleasantly surprised to find that Rachel was a pretty decent girl. She wasn't preppy like Peyton Sawyer, or a dork like Haley James, a bitch like Erica Marsh, or some uptight Catholic school girl like she'd imagined her to be.

She found that Rachel was just like a normal sixteen year old girl; she liked boys, she liked the prospect of sex, and she craved a life of house parties and underage alcohol consumption like the friends she'd met in her middle-school days were doing now. The red-head mentioned that she'd experienced these things during her last summer vacation, and Brooke felt a sort of kinship with her… so much so that she felt comfortable enough to disclose that she was into girls.

Rachel simply smiled, shrugged, and said 'cool'. It was the exact reaction that Brooke had wanted; it was no big deal.

"Don't you think that's cheating though; teaching me the routine before try-outs just so that I have a competitive advantage?" Brooke asked, surprising herself with the moral compass she'd suddenly found.

"Well, no… you're my friend and I want you on the squad with me." Rachel shrugged; Brooke had learned that the reason Rachel and Peyton were friends was because they were both on the cheerleading squad. Peyton was head cheerleader, and Rachel was in the running to take over the following year. "Also, it's always freshman, and sometimes sophomores, that get the spots, so we have to make sure that you're _far_ too awesome for Peyton to pass up."

"And the almighty Peyton Sawyer is okay with you doing that?" Brooke asked, only slightly sarcastically. Rachel and Peyton had kept in contact through video chat during the summer, and Peyton had taught her a routine that she wanted Rachel to teach potential new cheerleaders during try-outs.

"What Peyton doesn't know won't hurt her, will it?" Rachel raised an eyebrow, and Brooke laughed.

"Okay, I suppose not…"

"What it is this embargo that you have on Peyton anyway?" Rachel asked, her eyes narrowing in curiosity.

"I already told you, she's just _so preppy_ that it actually pisses me off. And you know what, it's so disappointing, because she is so hot, but I won't let myself be attracted to her because her personality makes me want to give myself a head injury!" Brooke ranted, eating mouthfuls of salad in between breaths. "Like seriously, in Gym class on Tuesday when she was on the turf-pitch next to ours, she started doing this stupid little cheer, like 'L.U.C.A.S, Lucas Scott is the best!' Seriously, what the hell was that?!"

"_Really…_?" Rachel laughed, not quite buying Brooke's story.

"Really."

"Is there the slightest possibility that you hate her because you do, in fact, want her, but because her personality annoys you, you can't admit it to yourself, so you just pretend that you don't like her? Also, you want her and she has a boyfriend..." Rachel challenged.

"Um no, not even one little bit." Brooke bit back. "In that relationship, I don't know who I'd shoot first; her for being her, or myself so I didn't have to listen to that voice anymore. _Honestly!_"

"Anyway…." Rachel laughed. "Moving on. What's going on with you in French class?"

"Uh, I just feel like Miss Fletcher's singling me out. You saw it Rachel, every single question that she asked she wanted me to answer. I feel like she's trying to undermine me, like because I'm the new kid I therefore know less. So I called her on it." Brooke shrugged.

"Brooke, Miss Fletcher's not like that, I swear. I think it was more like trying to determine how much you know."

"Well she can give me a damn test!"

"Honestly, the key to surviving this school is studying, getting the work done, and doing what you're told; trust me. You want out of here by senior year? Than do what you're supposed to do and you will be." Rachel smiled, and Brooke nodded.

"I know, it's just hard."

"You'll be okay Penelope, just listen to what I'm trying to tell you. I wouldn't want you getting sent to the Rehab Center when you're supposed to be at cheerleading practice with me and your new BFF Peyton now, would I?."

"BFF? Yeah right, that'll be… Wait, how do you know my middle name?" Brooke furrowed her brows.

"I saw it on the register in homeroom this morning." Rachel shrugged, standing up from her seat and pulling her bag over her shoulder. "Come on, I want to get some books from my locker before class."

. . .

"Hey Brooke, can I talk with you for a minute?" Brooke heard from behind her, and she turned around to see Peyton walking towards her, with a small pile of books in her arm, and what could only be described as her entourage walking with her; Haley James, Lucas Scott, Nathan Scott, and some other cheerleaders and jocks.

Brooke looked at Rachel, who was smirking at her, and the redhead bumped her arm with her elbow, whispering "Try not to drench you're panties too much there, Penelope… I'll be at my locker."

"What's up, Peyton?" Brooke plastered on her best fake smile, and Peyton left her group of friends to talk to Brooke alone.

"Look, I've heard that you got into a little bit of trouble in a few of your classes, and I just wanted to know if you're settling in okay?" Peyton asked with a soft, sympathetic, tone of voice, her free hand coming up to play with the key pendant around her neck.

"What's it to you?" Brooke asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I understand that it must be hard being the new girl and all, but I know that you've been hanging out with Rachel, and she's really cool, so you've already hit the nail on the head with making friends. But let me give you a little bit of general advice about this school." Peyton smiled.

Brooke raised an eyebrow sarcastically. "Hit me."

"Do the work and keep your nose clean. You want to be back at your old school by your senior year, and I totally understand that, but it's not going to happen if you don't try…"

"Wait, how do you…?" Brooke said, wondering how Peyton knew of her plans to be back in California by senior year, until she realized that Rachel would have told her. She turned to Rachel, who was watching the encounter intently, and muttered, "Never mind..."

"If you do what you're told and keep your nose clean, then you'll get good grades, and a good report card, and you'll be back home before you know it. If you listen to anything that I tell you this year, let it be this, because I'm trying to help you out." Peyton finished, and Brooke nodded; Peyton did, kind of, have a point. "You never know, you may actually end of kind of liking this place."

"Doubt it." Brooke retorted sarcastically, and Peyton simply smiled at her in sympathy.

"I have to go, but think about what I said, Brooke." Then Peyton turned around to address Rachel, who'd now joined them again. "Hey Rach, um, I have to talk to you at some point tonight… just about cheerleading. Text me and I'll come down to your floor, or whatever works for you, okay."

Then Peyton walked away to her own locker, and Rachel noticed that Brooke's eyes kept darting from the blondes legs then up again, then from her ass and up again, as the blonde swayed her hips.

"Yeah, you're so _not_ into Peyton." Rachel laughed sarcastically, and Brooke punched her on the arm playfully, before she looked further up the corridor, where Lucas Scott was putting his arm around Peyton's waist.

"I'm not!" Brooke argued as she opened her locker to retrieve some books. "I mean, who does she think she is?! _'Do the work and keep your nose clean'. _Honestly, I don't get it, she's such a, preppy, goody two-shoes, miss perfect, _moron_, but the people here still part like the Red freaking Sea every time she walks down the hall! It's like they're afraid of her! What the fuck is with that?"

Brooke slipped some books into her bag then closed her locker, and Rachel linked their arms as they began to walk down the hall.

"It pretty simple really. In high school, there's a food chain, and in this school, Peyton Sawyer is at the top of it. What do most teenage girls want…?" Rachel started.

"A pony and a platinum card?" Brooke offered with an amused smile on her face.

"No. They want to be popular! Yes, Peyton's nice, but she's also the most popular girl in school, and as such, most of the girls here don't want to run the risk of somehow pissing her off in case they find themselves further down the food chain, you know?" Rachel continued.

"But she's so nice…" Brooke furrowed her brows.

"But she's popular, most girls don't want to take the chance…"

"_Most?"_ Brooke asked.

"Yes, most. There are few girls here who don't care about popularity, or about Peyton. There's one girl in particular who isn't a fan of Peyton _at all_, a senior named Lindsey Strauss, but that's another story for another day."

Brooke simply nodded, noticing that they were approaching Peyton's locker, where she stood with her gang of popular seniors.

There was a small group of girls walking a little bit in front of them; a limping Erica Marsh, who'd now stopped with the bitchiness since Brooke had become friends with Rachel, there was another girl whom Brooke didn't recognize, and another girl whom Brooke recognised from Calculus; a blonde girl named Shelly Simon.

Brooke and Rachel were chatting away when suddenly they saw Shelly Simon bump into Peyton, and Peyton's books go tumbling to the floor.

"Are you blind or something?!" Peyton yelled, her mouth opened in shock, as Shelly Simon continued to walk away, but Peyton's shocked expression deepened even further when Shelly looked over her shoulder and bitchily replied;

"You shouldn't have been standing in the middle of the hall now, should you have?...Bitch."

"Obviously she doesn't care about being popular…" Brooke muttered as they skulked past Peyton, Rachel sending her, and the rest of the group, a wave as they passed.

"God, for her sake, I sincerely hope not…"

. . .

Brooke and Rachel were in Calculus, their last class of the day.

They were sitting at the back of the class, at a double desk, having a casual chit chat. The teacher was already in the classroom, but they were still waiting on two students to get to class before the lesson could start.

One of those students was Shelly Simon.

"Good Afternoon, Miss Simon, Miss Stone. Would you like to open your text-books to page 15 please…"

Shelly opened her bag to retrieve her text-book, but as she lifted the book out of her bag, two small, square, foil wrapped, objects fell from inside of it, onto the floor directly in front of the teacher.

Whispers of 'oh my God' filled the room as both the students and the teacher realized what had just fallen out of Shelly's book… Condom's.

"Miss Simon, what in the world?!" Mrs Ryan, their teacher asked, the shock very evident on her face and in her voice.

"Oh my God, Mrs Ryan, I swear those aren't mine, I don't know how on earth they got in there…"

Mrs Ryan bent down to pick the condoms up, then slammed them onto Shelly's desk.

"Miss Simon, this is a school! A catholic school no less! This is extremely inappropriate!"

Brooke and Rachel watched as Shelly began to cry.

"Mrs Ryan, I swear, they're not mine, someone must have put them in there."

"Why would someone want to do that? Where did you get these, Miss Simon?" Mrs Ryan pressed.

"I don't know where they came from, I really don't!" Shelly argued through her tears.

"No, this is completely inappropriate, you have to go see Principle Turner."

"Mrs Ryan, no, please. They aren't mine. I go to Church Camp, _please!_" Shelly cried, as Mrs Ryan led her out of the door.

And when Mrs Ryan left the room, Rachel pulled her phone out of her bag, and Brooke watched out of the corner of her eye as Rachel typed out a text message to Peyton.

'_Oh Sawyer, you fabulous bitch!'_

And she furrowed her brows. What did that mean? Why was she a fabulous bitch? Surely she couldn't have been responsible for the whole condom incident? It was impossible! But then again, Rachel had already mentioned that not everything in the school was quite what it seemed…

. . .

"What's that door for?" Brooke asked, pointing to an old doorway around the back of the main school building, as she and Rachel took the long way back to Durham Hall.

Rachel thought that Brooke should see more of the school grounds, and they were currently walking behind the main school building, in an area where no-one really went as it was small, un-kept, and there wasn't really anything there.

Rachel looked in the direction that Brooke was pointing, where there was a very old door, with a large, old-fashioned, metal lock. The doorway protruded outwards from the building like a porch.

It also looked un-kept, like it hadn't been restored in centuries…

"Oh…no one actually knows, I think it's an old entrance to the school. But it would lead into the cafeteria, and there's no external doorway in there, so I think that it was blocked by a wall on the inside many_, many, _years ago, hence why it fell out of use." Rachel explained, and Brooke nodded.

"Cool. This place is kind of old, huh?"

"Yeah, nineteenth century at least. There's been a school here for as long as a building has stood on the ground's." Rachel continued, until she felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her leather jacket

"Oh, um, Peyton wants to know if I can go talk to her now about that cheerleading stuff. Do you mind if we cut the tour short and head to Durham?"

"Not at all, lead the way."

. . .

Rachel knocked on Peyton's bedroom door a few times, and the blonde answered still dressed in her uniform.

Rachel walked in without Peyton even having to ask, and she took a seat on the blonde's desk chair.

"So, what's the verdict?" Peyton asked, folding her arms and leaning against her desk. "Is she '_Celibacy Club'_ material?"

Rachel smirked in her direction. "Well...I can tell you one thing, she most _definitely_ want's you."

Peyton's mouth curled into a cocky smirk, and she nodded her head in acknowledgement of Rachel's comment. "So, your verdict on her…?"

Rachel stood up.

"I can say with _absolute certainty_ that Brooke Davis is _definitely_ one of us."

Peyton nodded again. "So cheerleading try-outs, you've talked her into coming?"

"Sure have, I've even taught her the routine…" Rachel smiled, walking towards Peyton's bedroom door again. "And tomorrow night, after the rest of the school has gone to bed, I'll bring her along to the '_Celibacy Club_' so that she can finally see the _other _side of Tree Hill High School."

Peyton's smirk then turned so sexy that even Rachel couldn't deny that it was hot.

"_Perfect._"

* * *

**Lots more Breyton interaction next chapter :D**


	5. Chapter 5

'_Where the hell are you, Penelope?!' _Brooke read Rachel's text, before slipping the phone back into her pocket, and breaking into a jog through the school grounds.

It was Friday, cheerleading try out's day, and she'd wasted time back in her room after classes and dinner, before changing into a cute pair of sweats. She was now five minutes late to try outs, and was rushing to the Gym building.

She burst through the door of the Gym hall where try-outs were being held, to see a crowd of nervous hopefuls, and a panel desk set up, where Peyton sat in the middle, with that key around her neck of course, while Haley and Rachel sat at either side of her.

The door closed behind her with a loud bang, and Rachel sent her a questioning look, while Peyton tipped her head to the side, saying. "Nice of you to finally join us, Brooke…"

Brooke took her place in the crowd of girls, and felt somewhat like cattle being lead to the slaughter; this wasn't how they did cheerleading try outs at her old school.

"First of, on behalf of myself and the rest of the squad, I'd like to welcome all of you to Cheerleading try outs." Peyton started, her voice as sweet as always. "I know that a few of you have tried out before, but for most of you who haven't, I'll just explain how this is going to work. The whole process will take around three hours, and we should be out of here by eight tonight. In the first round, Rachel will teach all of you a short and simple routine, which should take around an hour to learn, then afterwards you will perform the routine as a group, for myself, Haley and Rachel." She continued. "Don't worry about the routine, as I said, it is _very _simple so an hour is plenty of time to learn it."

Brooke shrugged, she wasn't worried about it. It was a simple routine, and Rachel had already taught her it. She had a competitive advantage. It was her acting skills that she was more concerned about; she had to act like she was just learning it, and that would be the tough part.

"After the performance, we will select ten of you who will progress to the next round. If you aren't selected, unfortunately that's the end of the road for you. If you are selected for round two, you have to perform an individual routine of your own for one minute. If you don't have music with you, we have a selection of music for you to choose from." Peyton explained. "To make the process as easy as possible, I'd like all of you to write your full name on these sticky notes and stick it onto your t-shirt. Lastly, I'd like to wish all of you the best of luck, and I'll now leave you in the capable hands of Rachel Gatina."

Brooke watched as Haley got up, and she and Peyton walked out the hall, leaving the crowd with Rachel. And as Peyton walked, Brooke couldn't help but watch how her hips swayed, or how her ass looked nice and perky underneath her tight cheerleading outfit.

'Damn it Brooke, you hate her!' Brooke mentally scalded herself, thankful when Rachel started talking, breaking her from her inner self-argument.

"Okay, so let's get this started."

. . .

"All done?" Peyton smiled, as she and Haley walked back into the hall an hour later, clip boards in their hands."

"All done." Rachel smiled. "And let me tell you, you're going to have a tough decision this year, Peyton."

"Excellent!" Peyton grinned, as she and Haley took their places next to Rachel, who was standing in front of the crowd, who were in position to start the routine. Peyton handed a clip board to Rachel before turning to address the crowd. "Are you guys ready?" she asked enthusiastically, to which she received excited replies, while Brooke simply rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so let's do this! Rachel, hit the music."

The music started, and the girls began their short routine, but what Brooke didn't expect, was for Peyton and Haley to start working their way through the crowd, inspecting and judging closely.

Not that she was nervous, but she was _Brooke Davis_, back in California she wasn't used to being scrutinized.

From her spot at the back of the crowd, she watched out of the corner of her eye as Peyton scrutinized each girl, inspecting their posture, their facial expressions, and their movements. She watched as Peyton casually moved her way to the back of the crowd, and before she knew it, Peyton was behind her.

She could feel her presence behind her, she could practically feel the blonde's breath on her neck, and she didn't know why, but she found herself finding it oddly exhilarating.

And she had to keep her cool when she suddenly felt Peyton's hand on her side, travelling down the tiniest little bit to her hip. "Excellent form, Davis."

Then just like that, Peyton was walking away again.

Clearing her mind of all things Peyton for the time being, she got her head back in the game, performing the routine to complete perfection, until her thoughts were broken by chanting from Peyton, Haley, and Rachel.

"_We can't fake the way we feel, we were born to keep it real, basketballs and balls of steel; we are St. Stanislaus!" _

Looking around, Brooke saw the cheerleaders dotted throughout the crowd, and she guessed that their chanting was some sort of test to see if the hopefuls would break concentration.

"_Check out our battle cry, a song to terrify, no one can stand in our way! We are the best, so screw the rest, we do as we damn well please! Until the end, Tree Hill Ravens, defenders of anarchy!"_

But Brooke stayed in the game, her concentration completely focused on the moves that she was performing. If there was one thing that she was good at, it was cheerleading!

After the routine was done, Peyton excused the hopefuls, giving them a half hour break to get something to eat etc, while the cheerleaders made their decision.

After the half hour break, Peyton began to read out a list of ten names, the selected girls celebrating with cheers, while the rest of the hopefuls held their breath in suspense, including Brooke, who found herself wanting a spot a lot more than she'd originally thought.

"There's one place left in the final ten, and the last place goes to… Brooke Davis!" Peyton said happily, and Brooke let out a breath of relief, while the unselected girls groaned in disappointment, and a few of them even cried."For those of you who weren't selected, all of you were excellent, and there's always next year, but for now, commiserations guys. For the ten of you who were, the hall next door is available for you to practice your routines, and we'll bring you in one by one. I'll give you ten minutes so the first person we bring in has some time to practice. See you soon guys."

The selected girls made their way to the adjacent hall, and Rachel followed them and managed to discreetly grab Brooke.

"You have a routine, right?" The redhead asked worriedly.

"Yes, you told me about it like three days ago…" Brooke laughed.

"I know, but just in case you forgot…"

"Well I didn't, and I was a cheerleader at my old school so I have a few routines up my sleeve anyway." Brooke smiled, "Now will you please go away before the other girls start to think that I have a _competitive advantage_."

The girls were called one by one, until eventually Brooke was left in the hall on her own.

Of course she would be last, just her luck. The good thing about that though, was that she got to see the other girls practicing and maybe she was just biased, but she thought that her routine was _way_ better.

"Brooke, you're up."

Brooke looked up to see Haley standing by the door.

She walked over to Haley, who had waited for her, and they made small talk as they walked.

"How are you enjoying Tree Hill High?" Haley smiled.

"It's okay. I mean, it's not California, but it'll do for now." Brooke replied quietly. She was still having trouble accepting that she had to stay in Tree Hill, and she was still pretty certain that she would take a ticket out of there if she was offered it.

"Well, maybe if you get chosen for a spot on the squad you'll start to like this place a little more. It does grow on you." Haley grinned, then they were making their way into the main hall and towards the panel desk.

Haley took her chair at the right hand side of Peyton, while Rachel was seated to her left.

"Brooke, I'm so glad that you decided to try out." Peyton smiled. "Rachel tells me that you were a cheerleader back in California, so I have high hopes for you."

"You should." Brooke shot back cockily with a smirk, and Peyton sat back in her seat with an expressionless face, motioning to Brooke with her hand.

"Begin whenever you're ready."

Brooke plugged her iPod into the docking system that Peyton had set up, and selected her track.

She then proceeded to perform a routine that she, herself, had choreographed back in California. It showcased the most fluid, and agile, moves that she had under her belt, not to mention that is was sexy, and toed the line between conservative and slutty. Brooke knew that it was good, but whether or not Peyton agreed was a different story.

When she'd finished the routine, which she'd executed perfectly, she looked up to see Rachel and Haley looking completely impressed; Peyton, on the other hand, was expressionless.

"Thank-you, Brooke. A list of the people who made the squad will be posted on the notice board outside of the cafeteria no later than Tuesday morning."

Brooke was speechless, she expected more feedback than that! She looked at Rachel, who shrugged, signifying that she knew just as much as Brooke did.

"Okay…" Brooke nodded. "Thanks."

And then she was walking out of the Gym building, into the cool, evening, air, no further informed as to whether she had a chance of a spot on the squad or not.

. . .

It was 11pm when Brooke heard the vibrating of her phone, its screen illuminating the small bedroom.

She pulled her bed sheets over her head, ignoring the text message, thinking that it was most likely one of her friends from California texting her about an awesome party, while she was hauled up in a boarding school in the middle of Backwards Town, North Nowhere.

But only seconds later, her phone vibrated again.

And then again.

So she gave up, and reached her hand out of the bed to retrieve her phone from the nightstand.

But when she checked it, she noticed that all three texts were from Rachel.

'_Open your bedroom door, I'm coming over in literally 30 seconds.'_

'_Okay, open the door, I'm outside in the hall.'_

'_Bitch seriously, open the damn door!'_

Furrowing her brows, Brooke clambered out of bed, and swung her door opened, but before she could even open it fully, Rachel rushed into the room, and went straight to Brooke's closet.

Although the lights were off, Brooke could see that Rachel was all dressed up.

The redhead had her hair straightened, and her make-up was more glamorous than it was on a normal school day. She was wearing very flattering skinny jeans, black heels, a green, figure hugging, low cut, tank-top, and a leather jacket.

"Okay, what the hell are you doing?!" Brooke asked, and Rachel turned to her and held her finger to her lips, telling Brooke to keep her voice down.

Brooke went to turn the bedside lamp on, but Rachel shook her head, telling her not to. Then Rachel pulled her phone from her pocket and shone its light into Brooke's closet.

"Rachel, seriously, get out of my damn closet." Brooke said quietly, and Rachel turned around.

"Do your hair and make-up, I'm picking you an outfit. We have to be quick." The redhead explained, keeping her voice quiet.

"Why…?"

"Just do it okay, use the light from your phone."

Brooke just shrugged, and did as she was told. She had no idea what was going on, but maybe there was finally something exciting happening.

Brooke set up her curling wand, while Rachel rummaged through the closet and picked out an outfit. She chose Brooke some denim shorts, a beige colored t-shirt, a light-brown, cropped, leather jacket, and light-brown heels to match. She made sure to pick a jacket that had zip pockets.

Rachel then proceeded to curl Brooke's hair for her, while the brunette did her make-up in the same glamorous style as Rachel's. With their combined effort, Brooke was ready in under fifteen minutes… and that was in the dark! She was definitely putting that one down as an achievement, especially when she looked fantastic!

"Put your key-card in the zip pocket of your jacket. You _don't_ want to lose that tonight. _Trust me_." Rachel said, then she opened the door, as Brooke put her phone and her key-card into her pocket.

"But where are we going?" Brooke asked, but Rachel turned to her with wide eyes and put her fingers to her lips again.

"Shhhh!"

Rachel grabbed Brooke by the hand, and they began to very quietly make their way down the dark hall, noticing that all of the bedroom lights were off except for one; Flo's.

Rachel turned to Brooke and sent her a look that told her to be extra-quiet, as they made their way past Flo's bedroom, their movement's quick but light as they rushed past the Floor Supervisors bedroom and through the double doors onto the stairs.

"Okay shhh, we still have to get past sophomore and freshman floor." Rachel whispered, and Brooke grasped her hand, both girls walking on their tip-toes to make sure that their heels didn't click on the hard flooring.

They managed to make it past the double doors at sophomore floor, and freshman floor, until they were making their way out of Durham Hall and into the night air.

"Oh my God, my heart is in my mouth." Brooke whispered, and Rachel laughed quietly.

"I know, and it's not over yet."

Still holding onto Brooke's hand, Rachel stayed close to the buildings, as they skulked away from Durham Hall, past Evan's Hall, and across the path that lead from the Residence Hall's to the School, making sure to stay close to the tree's.

But then Rachel went off of the main path, and onto the path that took them behind the main school building; the long route that they'd taken back to Halls the day before.

When they were behind the School, Rachel took a small torch from the pocket of her jacket, and shone it to the ground to make sure that it was working.

"Wont someone see us?!" Brooke asked worriedly.

"Hell no," Rachel laughed. "The security cameras in this place only face around the parameters of the grounds. They're so concerned about keeping people out, that they forgot about the people already on the grounds. And anyway, even if the cameras could see us, the security TV's and the night-guard are in that little office at the main gate, and I can guarantee you that if we went down there right now, the guard would be asleep anyway." Rachel finished, switching the torch off again and pulling Brooke the final few steps until they reached their destination. "Well, here we are."

They were standing in front of the old door that Brooke had noticed the day before.

"This is where we're going?!" Brooke exclaimed, and Rachel laughed before dropping Brooke's hand and pushing the large, heavy, door, open, shining the torch inside of it.

Brooke peered in, and all she could see were steep stairs that descended downwards in a spiral. And it was dark. Darker than dark.

"Come on." Rachel smiled, and went to walk in, but Brooke pulled her back.

"Oh hell no! You think I'm going down there?!"

"Aww, are you scared?" Rachel laughed, and Brooke folded her arms in indignance.

"No, but I'm not stupid. What is this, one of those pathetic little boarding school initiation things? When I get down there, there will be a crowd of bitches waiting to tie me up and leave me down there through the night. No, not happening, I'd rather not, thank-you." Brooke rambled, and Rachel shook her head through her laughter.

"Brooke, this isn't a movie, things like that don't happen in real life."

"No, not a chance, it's not happening." Brooke continued to huff, but Rachel was having none of it.

The redhead grabbed her arm and pulled her forward, and before Brooke knew what was happening, she was in the dark building and Rachel was closing the door behind them.

"Rachel, this is so creepy!" Brooke said, grabbing Rachel's hand and clutching it tighter than before, as Rachel lead them down the steep stairs, shining the torch out in front of her.

They walked for what felt like forever, and Brooke guessed that they must have been at least four stories below ground level.

Finally, they got to the bottom, and Rachel shone the touch out into a large, corridor.

Brooke let go of Rachel's hand and her jaw dropped when she saw her surroundings. She stopped walking to take everything in.

It was old, very old. There was the shape of what once must have been windows, and there were many, very old, wooden, doors, on the walls at each side of the corridor.

"What is this place?" Brooke whispered, her eyes taking in the sites around her.

"Brooke, why are you whispering? We're four stories below ground, underneath a school building that's completely empty, no one can hear a thing." Rachel laughed. "They can't even hear you _scream_…"

"Dude don't! That is _so_ creepy!"

"There's always been a school on this land since records of this town began, but what was here before they started keeping records? Well, you're standing in it." Rachel explained, and Brooke looked up at her.

"If you look at blue-prints of the school, you see it as it is today, complete with the door that we just came through, but those blue prints show a wall covering the door from the inside. Go back one hundred and fifty years ago or so, the blue-prints look the same, but if you look for prints from more than one hundred and fifty years ago, you'll find that they don't exist. "

"But…how…?" Brooke was confused as to how this part of the building even existed.

"I'm no architect, but I think that this was once the school building, you know, hundreds and hundreds of years ago. But I think that as the years passed, they built up the land and eventually a new building was built over the top of this one."

"The school…" Brooke smiled, looking around again, realizing that Rachel's explanation was probably true; the corridor that she was in was _definitely_ a lot older than the school that she knew.

"Exactly. But why did they leave stairs that led to this part?" Rachel continued still. "I believe that they used this place for storage for a while, but as they added more to the new building, they didn't need this part anymore and it fell out of use. Eventually, it was forgotten about and when they started keeping records and blue-prints, this part of the building wasn't included in them…" Rachel finished.

"Oh wow, that's amazing." Brooke was amazed. "Don't the teachers know about this place?"

"No, no one does. Well, except for us and a few other people…" Rachel laughed.

"Who found this place?" Brooke asked.

"Oh, it was discovered about eighteen years ago. But, that's another story for another day." Rachel replied, then she stayed quiet, knowing that Brooke had missed something.

When they stopped talking, Brooke heard it… "Wait a minute, can you hear music? I can hear music."

Rachel nodded and sent Brooke a grin. "What, do you think I brought you down here for a historical walking tour?"

Rachel then led Brooke to the bottom of the corridor, the music getting louder as they approached, and they stopped in front of one of the wooden doors.

"Tonight, Brooke, we're going to the 'Celibacy Club.'" Rachel smiled, and Brooke simply laughed.

"Oh honey, that ship sailed a _long_ time ago…"

"No Brooke," Rachel grinned, pushing the door opened, where Brooke was met by loud music and flashing lights. "Welcome to the 'Celibacy' _Club."_

Brooke walked into room behind Rachel, and was even more mesmerized than she was before. The room was large and was littered with flashing lights, tables, chairs, and a table set up specifically for drinks. There was also a battery operated iPod docking system set up for music, and the music was turned up _loud. _She had no idea how they'd managed to got furniture in there, but in that moment, she didn't care.

There were students dancing, and drinking, all from junior and senior year, and most importantly, all of them were popular.

Brooke knew that in comparison to the parties that she'd been to in California, this was tame, but throwing a party like this in Tree Hill High School was nothing short of impossible and someone had managed to pull it off; that simple fact was what made Tree Hill kick California's ass!

Brooke was suddenly in high school heaven.

Suddenly someone put their arms around Brooke and Rachel, and handed them both a red cup filled with what smelled like vodka and lemonade.

"Gatina!" The person cheered happily, "what up baby girl!"

Brooke turned around to see that it was a boy in junior year, whom she'd learned was called Skills.

"B Davis, glad you made it." Skills grinned, then he moved away from them, and Brooke furrowed her brows at her apparent new nickname.

"B Davis?" She yelled to Rachel over the music.

"What can I say, you made an impression on someone pretty important, and news travels fast among us underground folk…" Rachel shrugged. "But no one else except the people in this room know about this place, so you can't tell a soul, okay?"

Brooke nodded and began to look around again, but as she did, it was as though the crowd parted, and what she was met with was the most amazing sight.

There, at a table, was Peyton, a beer in one hand, and a cigarette in the other.

She eyed Brooke, and as she took a drag of her cigarette, she nodded her head to Brooke in acknowledgement, then smirked as she blew the smoke out.

And suddenly, Brooke realized that the goody-two-shoes Peyton that she thought she knew wasn't the real her, in fact, far from it. She was clearly some sort of bad-ass, and Brooke loved that in a woman.

And as she looked at the blonde, her red, hi-top, converse, clad feet up on the table, a figure-hugging, black, strapless, dress adorning her body, and her blonde, curly, hair, falling around her shoulders, she finally let herself be attracted to her. Brooke was used to seeing Peyton with her hair in a pony-tail, but it looked even more fantastic down.

Converse and a little black dress weren't items that Brooke would have paired together, but Peyton made it work, and God, she was so fucking hot! And now that she was allowing herself to find Peyton attractive, even that key around her neck looked good…

"What a minute, the key…" Brooke said, getting Rachel's attention, as the cogs turned in her mind. "That key around Peyton's neck, it's not just symbolic is it?"

Rachel grinned and nodded. "No it's not. You see, _B Davis, _the door that we came through to get down here, there's a big old lock on it… and the key for that door, well, it's around Peyton's neck."

"That is _so_ cool." Brooke beamed.

"You know how I said that Peyton will pass The Key to me? The Head-Girl always wears the key, and then she passes it onto the next Head-Girl, and so on, that's why the Head-Girl always gets a say in who the next one is; so she can make sure that it's someone who'll keep this place a secret." Rachel explained. "This room is filled with the most popular kids in school. At the end of every school year, the juniors who are chosen to be Head-Boy and Head-Girl for the following year get to pick the sophomores who they want to party down here with them the following year, and those sophomores get to come to the last party of the year; this is so the Head-Girl can get a head start on deciding who she'll pass The Key onto when she graduates."

"Okay…" Brooke droned, wondering if Rachel's story had a point.

"You see those empty seats at Peyton's table?"

Brooke nodded, looking at Peyton's table. There was eight seats around it, Peyton and Lucas took up two, then Haley and her boyfriend Nathan, who Brooke knew was Lucas' brother, but if they were twins, they certainly didn't look alike. There were two junior boys at the table, one was Skills, and one was another kid called Mouth, and then two empty seats.

"Well, last year it was the Head Boy and Head girl who sat there, as well as their two best friends, and the other seats around the table belonged to Nathan, Haley, Lucas, and Peyton. That table is reserved _strictly_ for school_ royalty_, and this year, Penelope, those two empty seats belong to _us_." Rachel smirked.

. . .

When Brooke and Rachel had taken their seats, Peyton had gotten up to dance, and when Rachel got up to dance with her, Brooke sat at the table, simply taking everything in.

The school was so much more than she imagined. It went to show that appearances can be deceiving, and so did Peyton; the girl was a master showmen, skilled in the art of deception, an enigma.

She was broken from her musings by Rachel motioning for her to come and dance, but as she stepped onto the dancing area, she felt someone grab her by the hips and begin to grind into her; it was Lucas Scott.

She froze, panicked. Peyton Sawyer's _boyfriend _was trying to dance with her _like that. _And if her assumptions were correct, judging by everything that she'd realized about Peyton in the last half hour, the blonde could very quickly bring people down, and that couldn't end well for her; especially when she'd only just gotten her foot in the door.

She backed away, holding her hands up, mumbling "look, I'm sorry, but I'm not…" until she backed up into someone.

She turned around, only to be met by Peyton, who had a questioning look of her face.

Fuck…

"Peyton, I swear, he tried to dance with me, I walked away…" Brooke tried to explain, but Peyton began to smirk.

"What is it? Not into Lucas here?" Peyton laughed, tapping Lucas on the back, and Lucas scowled at her slightly.

"No, I…what?" Brooke's brows furrowed.

"I told you, didn't it?" Peyton said to her 'boyfriend', still laughing. "Sorry Lucas, you lose, _buh-bye_."

Peyton waved at Lucas, and he laughed as he turned away, then the blonde boy grabbed a cheerleader, whose name was Theresa, and began to make out with her.

"Okay, what the…?" Brooke questioned, turning to Peyton, but Peyton simply grabbed her by the hips and pulled her close, grinding with her to the beat of the music.

Brooke quickly glanced over to Rachel, who was making out with Mouth, the pair practically fucking in the middle of the floor… obviously the redhead wasn't as much of a virgin as she'd made herself out to be.

"Didn't Rachel tell you that this school isn't quite what it seems?" Peyton asked, and Brooke could hear the sexy southern drawl in her voice.

"She did…" Brooke replied. "So, Lucas isn't really your boyfriend then?"

Peyton laughed. "He's not, no…"

"Then why are you pretending that he is?" Brooke asked, still not quite catching on to the situation.

"Because B Davis…" Peyton said, her lips close to Brooke's ear, and the brunette breathed in her intoxicating scent. "How would Principle Turner react if he knew that the _perfect_ little Head-Girl was actually a _bitchy _little _lesbian_?"

Brooke had to close her eyes for a moment. This girl was perfection! She was everything that Brooke could have wished her to be. In that moment, it was like she could see fireworks and hear a choir singing, it was like an orgasm of the mind! Everything had suddenly gotten so…_perfect_.

"You know, I am fond of a lesbian, seeing as I am one, and all." Brooke replied innocently, and Peyton giggled.

"I heard… so, are you still in a hurry to go back to California?"

"You know what, this place is kind of growing on me. So, if you don't mind, I think I might stay a while."

. . .

It was almost 5am and daylight was just starting to break through the darkness, when Peyton, Brooke, Nathan, Haley, Lucas, and Rachel, finally emerged back up to ground level.

Being friends with school_ royalty _had its perks, but hanging with the girl with The Key also meant staying behind after the party to help clean up.

Lucas and Nathan left to walk back to Fields Hall, and the girls walked back to Durham after Peyton locked up.

Rachel went through the double doors to junior floor, but before Brooke could follow her, Peyton pulled her back, while Haley headed on upstairs.

"So, listen, a bunch of us are heading down to Karen's Café tomorrow during free time, just us cool people, you know:Lucas, Nate, Haley, Rachel, and few others. We're meeting on the quad at noon, and you _better _be there."

Brooke smiled, then Peyton winked at her and walked away upstairs to senior floor.

Brooke was routed to the spot for a few seconds, her heart beating rapidly in her chest, as she watched Peyton walk upstairs. She'd been hoping for a kiss from the stunning blonde, but she was only slightly disappointed when it didn't happen; the invite to the café could only be a good thing, plus Rachel did say that she'd made an impression on Peyton… well, she was assuming that she meant Peyton.

Smiling to herself, she turned around and went through the double doors, tip-toeing back to her room, completely satisfied by her awesome night.

Tree Hill was really starting to grow on her.

* * *

**I know that the concept of building on top of another building seems a little far-fetched, but it is possible, see the Edinburgh Chamber of Vaults and Mary Kings Close. I did mentioned that some things in this story would be somewhat hard to believe anyway, but it's all just for fun :)**

**And yes, I did slightly paraphrase the St Trinian's song :P**

**Reviews keep me really motivated!**


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